25116

1876 "A Solid South" Broadside by W. G. Brownlow

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:900.00 - 1,200.00 USD
1876  A Solid South  Broadside by W. G. Brownlow
<B>1876 "A Solid South" Broadside by W. G. Brownlow</B></I> <I>The Ballot-Box to Reverse the Bayonet. A Loyal Southron's Appeal to the North! HEED IT! Voters of New Hampshire.</B></I> Known as the "Fighting Parson," Brownlow was an influential figure in the church, the press and the government of Tennessee for many years. By the 1850s, his <I>Knoxville Whig</B></I> was the largest circulation weekly newspaper in the South. Pro-slavery, but violently opposed to secession, Brownlow used his paper to lead the East Tennessee "Rebellion" against the Confederacy in 1861, causing so much trouble that he was arrested and jailed. Not wanting to make him a martyr, the Confederate authorities turned Brownlow loose. He went on to the North and became widely known through his speeches attacking the Confederacy. When eastern Tennessee was brought under the control of Federal forces in 1863, Brownlow returned to his home state and was instrumental in restoring civil government there. Then, in 1865, he was elected governor of that state for two terms before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1869. Back home in Tennessee in 1875, he continued to write fiery editorials until his death in 1877. The item offered here is one of these editorials, written to the editor of the <I>Concord Tribune</B></I> in New Hampshire and published as a broadside by the <I>Republican Press Association,</B></I> Concord. Anti-Tilden in tone, it states in part: <I>"...Let no man delude himself into the belief that the success of Samuel J. Tilden as the leader of the Democracy does not mean Southern Supremacy... I speak forth the words of truth and soberness when I say that they (Southern Democratic leaders) intend to accomplish through the ballot-box what they failed to achieve on the bloody field."</B></I> In closing, he writes <I>"I trust and believe that your ballots on the 7th day of November will, like the long lines of burnished steel in the hands of your brave sons during the period from 1861 to 1865, say to the world in thunder tones, This is a Nation, and as such it shall be perpetuated through all time!"</B></I> Very good condition, light folds and minor soiling, 15" x 22" in size. Incredibly rare, the first one of these to pass through our hands. Lot:251